Tag: Brian Wood

In the Song of Belit part three we see Conan change back to his old self only this time with a broken heart, After Belit and the crews death Conan is left only on a mysterious and dangerous land, and in part three we see him cut and slash his way through a pack of Hellhound like creatures. From the first page to the last Conan is fighting for his life, the action is non stop. finally we see him make it out alive and back to sea.
Part 4 we see that Conan has landed at the Black Kingdom, we finally see how the death of Belit has effected him. known as the Ghost by the local’s Conan now spends his time drinking and partaking in meaningless gladiator fights, when the local Tavern owner Thessy confronts him about the man he has become Conan finally picks up the pieces of his broken heart and decides to move on as changed man no longer living just for treasure.

Brian Woods Conan run has been one that should be praised, we have seen Conan as a character growth and maturation throughout his run, things like doubt,Fear,love,Devotion,happiness all these at one point was shown, and for that i give Woods much credit. The artwork also deserves its praise, artist’s Leandro Fernand, Riccardo Burchielli, Paul Azaceta, Davide Gianfelice, Becky Cloonan, James Harren made the world of Brian Woods version Conan to life, and for the most part the work was always consistent and every artist kept the art style similar to a degree, Don’t forget Massimo Carnevale amazing cover art as well

I enjoy Brian woods work and sad that its come to an end,hopefully the next writer will put the time and effect woods has done for his run.

I’ve read that this issue is one the most talked about issue ever, and I have to agree with whoever said that statement. The Song of Belit is dark and has one of the most surprising endings I’ve seen thus far. Brian Woods lays it all on the line in this issue, for the beginning to the end there’s a sense of danger throughout the entire issue, unlike the past arcs there isn’t a happy ending if fact it’s one the most unexpected comic conclusions I’ve read in a while.

In the beginning we get a back story of sorts about the inhabitants of the black kingdom ,we see that as the land change so did the creatures that lived there, the climate changes forced species to evolve as time went by. Form there we see Conan trapped in the vines of the Black Lotus, But he escapes and starts to look for N’Gora who seems to be missing, Conan then finds the weapons of his crew, but also notices that someone is watching him, to his surprise it was N’gora who is under some kind of spell, and tries to take Conan’s life. During their fight Conan feels uneasy about the bout and is trying to beak whatever spell that has been cast on N’gora, but it cannot be done, so Conan is forced to take n’gora’s life. After burying N’Gora, Conan beginnings to look for Belit, so races back to the ship to see if she and the other mates have gone back. This part is interesting we see Conan panic alittle bit after funning the corpse of all the crew men.

When Conan finally reaches the ship, you can see that it’s been attacked the Head and mainsails have been broken, Conan reluctantly walks to his and Belit’s chambers. We that the doors are slightly open and in front lay what looks like a flatten red blossom peddle, When Conan opens the door we see Belit hanging form a rope.

Final thoughts: This issue left me feeling bad for Conan, he a Belit endured so much with each other, and devoted there life’s to one another, it truly look as if the two would have a happily ever after, but to then see it shattered at the end was unexpected, I knew it would end sooner or later, but I didn’t expected it to end like it did. I also really enjoyed the darkness of this arc and issue form the jump you knew something was going too happened, you just didn’t know what exactly. And that’s one aspect of the issue I liked a lot. What else can be said, Brian Woods is on a roll. I will continue to read is run

The Song of Belit is a new arc of writer Brian Woods, joining him in this new arc is Italian artist Riccardo Burchielli, who’s known for his DC/Vertigo comic series DMZ. Dave Stewart is back as the colorist for Burchielli’s artwork.

The arc is something different form the last arcs, for one it features a new land, and with that comes new mysteries and danger. And right form the jump we get a glimpse of how dangerous and mysterious this new land is, in the beginning of the issue Conan and Belit are aboard the Tigress and sailing the seas of The Black Kingdoms, As they sail deeper into the new seas Conan and the others start to become uneasy about the new sea. Belit tells them that there is a kingdom not too far from where they are and so they continue to sail. During the night a giant sea like snake attacks them, killing a handful of men before finally being driven back by Conan who once again expresses his discomfort with the new sea. When they finally reached the kingdom belit was talking about, they notice that it is abandon and again they come across a strange winged-ape liked creature. As they explore the grounds of the kingdom they a tomb of priest which is known to have treasure hidden underneath, under Belit’s orders they open the tomb and also set off a trap which takes out another hand full of men. Inside the tomb they find gold and other treasure like items, so they take possession of the treasure and start to return to the ship.

Once again Conan and the others see the winged-aped creature, but this time coming from the Tigress, this makes Conan curious so he runs back to the ship to see if it has done any damage, And after further inspection Conan sees that ape creature has done nothing to the ship so they go back to the city and continue exploring its lands, nightfall hits and Conan, N’Gora and the rest of their shipmates are in jungles of the mysterious land, and Conan quickly notices that they are being watched and followed. Conan then tells N’Gora and the others to go ahead while he stays behind to catch the one who is following them. But to his surprise it is not a person or creature that is following them, it is the jungle its self and its Black Lotus veins. The issue ends with Conan being wrapped by the Black Lotus veins, and us the readers wondering how Conan is going to escape this new and dangerous land.

This new arc looks really promising for the simple fact that its unknown, in past arc’s we pretty much knew what and who the antagonist was, but in this arc it’s a complete mystery. That reason only is what has me interested in the arc and the main factor for me to continue reading this arc.

A twisted religious order targets the heathens Conan and Bêlit, who flee with a relic of immeasurable value. Mad warrior monks pursue the couple across a maze like landscape, cutting off every avenue of escape. With no other options, Bêlit looks to the mysterious item, hoping to find some salvation within.

After twenty- one issues Brian wood’s Conan the Barabarian run has seemed to come at its end, we has taken us all over Robert E. Howards world and its original stories. Form Queen of the Black Coast to The Black Stones, Woods has brought us quality writing since starting his run, but some how The Black Stones Part 3 seems like its missing something, I’m not saying the issue is bad, just that it’s missing something.

The ending was a letdown of sorts for me, only because it seem rushed, like woods wanted to just get this arc out of the way finally, that may not have been the case but that’s the impression I got after reading this issue. Don’t get me wrong the issue is great it shows the love and bond between Belit and Conan at its strongest in this issue. And in the end that’s what these arcs or about Conan and Belit bond for one another as they travel together.

Artist Paul Azaceta work is good for the most part, although at times character faces look distorted in some panels. I’ve mention in the past that some artist do an exceptional job bring the world and crucial moments to life, Becky Cloonan and Davide Gianfelice are the ones that come to mind. Again I’m not saying is art is bad it just his artwork doesn’t appeal to me like the others do.

Final thoughts: This may sound like a bad review but it’s not, there’s a lot of good things going on with the issue, a lot of which I’ve talked about in past issues. In the end Conan The Barbarian: Black Stones arc turn out to be an okay arc, but had the makings of being a great one

Black stones Part 2, gets more in-depth when it comes to the Black stones, along with how important they are to everyone else. In the last issue Conan and Belit enter a unknown village and caused alittle trouble to say the least, after escaping the two take refuge in the Forset of Ghouls for the night. Alone the two cuddle around a fire and Conan shares one of his child hood stories at her request, He tells her a story about a boy who was lost in a snow blizzard and was found frozen by his huntsman father, Belit comments on how horrible the story was, Conan tells her that it kept all the children form wondering off at night.

The morning comes at it seems as if Conan and Belit have been found by a savage tribe called Heretics, But seems Conan and Belit have anticipated this and set up a trap. Hiding in the trees the two start to throw giant size rocks at the savages which quickly takes them out, at the same time another tribe of savages overhears the yelling of the Heretics and rush in thinking some of their fellow tribesman where being attacked. Still atop the trees Conan and Belit jump down and take out the other set of savages, the interesting thing about this part is that this group of savages seems to know that the scroll Conan is holding is a relic.

After taking out the two sets of men, they find themselves once again on the run under heavy arrow fire. With the enemy close by Conan gives Belit the relic and the two split up, Conan leads the men away form Belit before falling form his horse and knocking himself out. Belit on the other hand has a group men pulling at her as she tries to escape, one of them successfully pulls Belit form her horse and she falls into a lake, under water Belit unwraps the scroll/relic and a massive bright light expands knocking everyone out.

Next we see the little boy form the first issue running into a church, inside we see a priestess is there and he tells her that the relic has been used, the Priestess informs the boy that whoever has open the relic, will have a cursed bloodline. The issue ends with Belit entering the church.

Final thoughts: This issue is of the best issue I’ve read so far, Brian Woods covers all aspects need in order to make a great issue, filled with action, mystery, and other things of value. Black Stones pert 2 introduces a new antagonist, While Woods doesn’t elaborate too much on her in the few panels she was in, we do however get a glimpse of her personality, along with her obsession with the Blacks Stones. For example in the last panel we see her talking to the boy about the relic, we see her face expression which is normal, But then she leans over his shoulder and with a sinister face that would make the joke even freak out, asks if he knows where the relic is. Her obsession with the relic is similar to Gollum’s of Lord of the Rings, where Gollum calls the ring his precious; she calls the relic her beloved.

So far this arc is looking very strong, Brian Woods is knocking this outta the park.

As of late Brain woods has been on a roll, with arcs like, Border fury, Nightmare of the shallows, Argos Deception and Queen of the Black Coast all being quality arcs, It’s we can assume Conan the Barbarian: Black Stones is going to be another great arc.

Conan The Barbarian: Black Stones takes place after the events of The Nightmare of The Shallows, Conan and Belit are seen walking through a rainy Forest, they quickly notice they are being followed and prepare to defend themselves against incoming enemies. The scene changes and we now see Conan and Belit aboard the Tigress and sailing the seas of western ocean two weeks for beforehand, Conan and company jump aboard a nearby ship and start to take out is crew and captain, with most of ship’s crew and captain all meeting there demises Belit and Conan come across a scroll, but before they can enjoy their victory an old man informs them that the ship has been blessed and is protected by the Black Stones. Conan laughs off the warming.

Next we see a present scene of Conan and Belit racing through the forest and come across a gloomy looking village that looks un-inhabited, the two then walk into a tavern looking for food an Ale, Conan then sits next to alittle boy at the bar, he then pays the kid to stable the horses and oil the saddles for the morning. An unknown man then comes up to Conan and asks if Belit is for sale, Conan plays along and begins to negotiate with the man, who offers five silver coins for Belit, Conan then counter offers the stranger a gold coin and asks for information on the village. The stranger tells him that the village in cursed by the black stones, and that lifestock, woman and children are most affected by it.

After getting the info they wanted Conan and Belit call it night, but not before the stranger again propositions Conan for Belit, who then angrily stabs the man in the hand which officially ends the night.

In the morning Conan and Belit come across the dead body of the man who had given them the information about the village, they then walk into a church and find a priest and the young boy who Conan had paid to stable the horses standing together. Conan the presents the scroll they had taken for the ship earlier, Seconds later a masked man jumps Belit from behind and threatens to take her life, the masked man tells him Belit should be punished and therefore be sacrificed. Knowing they have been betrayed Conan asks for the person who has given them up, to his surprise he finds out that it was the boy who had betrayed them.

With his sword at Belit face the masked man asks for the scroll which turns out to be a Relic, In a flash Conan attacks the man and his followers in violent fashion. With only the priest left Conan approaches him and asks what he knows about the Black Stones, the priest who is terrified states that because Conan has the relic “They will damn you and one hundred generations of your offspring, just for touching it!”.

Seeing that getting information is useless they start to walk away from him, the priest then gets up and pulls out a dagger and yells out “in the shadows of the black stones” and then cuts his own throat. Stunned by the priests actions and knowing what trouble my follow the two agree to leave the village and camp out in the forest for the night.

The Nightmare Of The Shallows Part 2 continues the psychodelusional head trip outside of time and body, With Conan and Belit still under the effects of the Yellow Lotus writer Brian Wood dives deeper into the mind of not only Conan but also Belit. Throughout this issue Wood bounces back and forth between the two as they struggle with their personal fears and doubts, for Belit we see that she is afraid that her influence has turned Conan into heartless warrior who would kill anything and anyone in order to show his devotion to her, she also fears what Conan would do are think if she was to bare a child.

As for Conan’s struggles its focus on his love for Belit, and how it has driven him to almost borderline obsession, he fears his love Belit is not enough to keeper her by his side and that one day she may leave him which could turn his life upside down, with Belit around Conan feels as is his life has meaning with her so he fights to keep that love even if it means death.

One the things I like must about this story arc is the fact both characters have the same doubts and fears, Woods does a excellent elaborating each characters inner turmoil, as a reader you feel sorry for Conan and Belit’s situation for simple fact that it can easily be avoided. Both are so proud and independent that they rather keep to themselves instead of telling one another how they feel. This Arc is turing to one of my favorites for that simple reason, Brian wood is on roll so far and I’ll continue to follow this arc!

The art quality is just as good as the writing; Davide Gianfelice Illustrations on each panel is consistent all throughout this issue, like I said in the beginning about Wood’s writing make easy to followirts in fact Gianfelice art is really the reason.

This new adventure for Conan and Belit starts in the city of lanthe,Ophir a place with vast mountain ranges and forests that is said to have Ancient beasts leaving within the shadows. It also seems to be a city for the wealthy, with the rich living up top where domes and towers that has ruby rooftops; the lower part of the city is for those who seek out more personal pleasures. As Conana and Belit enjoy the lavish lifestyle that they’ve built form themselves and unknown me comes to and presents to them a pill with is called the “Yellow Lotus”, he promise that it will grant their minds pleasures and experiences that they have never had before. A reluctant Conan declines but is quickly convince by Belit to take the Yellow Lotus and enjoy it with her, as they sit with their eyes closed.

In a dreamlike state Conan and Belit are running through the woods, she talks about how when she was a little girl the woods frighten her, at the same time Conan with bow in hand ask Belit how did they get there and how he’d get a bow, as they continue to walk deep in the forest, they come across Argus and its Captain Tito and the rest of his crew form Messantia are all slaughter and hung form trees.

This where things get weird, Conan and Belit are soon attacked by an unknown enemy, as arrows rain towards them a undead member of Argus talks to Conan about how his guilt is consuming him, But the switches to him and Belit laying and bed talking when all of sudden their unborn son comes rushing in the bedroom shocking Conan. Then it jumps to Conan in the snowy woods ready to fight the great bear god Mathghamhain, the fight ends quickly with Conan fatally striking the Bear god down. As the corpse lays next to him it begins to talk to him and it says things t similar to what the undead man form before had said to him.

The issue ends with Conan and Belit who are still in a dreamlike state are now at the beach and swimming peacefully underwater in the ocean of The Devils Shallow, and once again they come across what looks like a bunch of dead pirates and their ships.

Final Thoughts: Let me start by saying for a first issue it has very good writing The Nightmare Of The Shallows Part 1 dives into the mind of Conan and how every adventure he and Belit had has affected him in some way shape or form, Brian Wood once again brings out another emotion Conan’s not use to dealing with and that’s guilt. Wood touches upon this issue multiple times throughout the comic with past characters he has encountered. You can expect the pacing and flow to be the same as his previous arcs such as Queen Of The Black Coast and Border Fury.

Davide Gianfelice is the artist for this arc, his style is similar to Becky Cloonan in that it features more heavy handed illustrations for each panel, while its not highly detail it is easy to follow and understand.

In the end The Nightmare Of The Shallows Part 1is a good start for what looks like an arc that my have a few twist and turns in the future, and that alone makes it worth picking up.

Conan The Barbarian – The Death Is a unusually story for the simple fact that Conan is vulnerable though out the arc, Struggling with his new found feelings of love and fear qualities that’s usually not shown in a Conan storyline, In the beginning of the 3 part issue Conan and Beilt along with her crew of pirates continue to sail the sea’s raising hell on all who come across the two. One day while sailing the western ocean the a worried Belit confides in N’Yoga wondering if Conan is truly happy with her at sea. N’Yoga warns her of the death and form that moment on Belit withdraws form conan and crew, hiding away in her sleeping quarters. Meanwhile Conan and N’Gora come across a slave passenger who looks to be gravely ill, not trusting the stranger they put him back on the boat they found him in. The next morning Conan wakes up to find the slave has been killed and crew all stricken with an unknown illness, quickly he disposes the body and boat of the mysterious slave and checks in on Belit who has also fallen ill of the same sickness the crew is hit with.

As Belit lays in her death bed Conan promises to find the cure of the mysterious illness and ports at the docks of Bakal, with so much resting on his success of finding a cure Conan hits a local pub to contemplate on what he must do. After a brief encounter with the locals that was interrupted by Belit, who asks for their help to find a healer concern with her health Conan escorts her back to the Tigress not before telling him that he is free to leave her and the crew to die, for that’s not the burden she wanted for her love. Once they reach the ship the dockmaster gives Conan a hard time with the Dock saying news of Belit in town has spread around Bakal prompting Conan to pay an extra fee to stay unnoticed as he travels to the healer’s location.

There Conan meets up with a local shaman woman and is given an unknown drink that causes him to fall in a dreamlike state where he is stuck under water and has to swim ashore to a endless desert, once he awakes form his sleep the shaman asks him what did he see in his dream to which he tells her of how he was drowning in the ocean due to his armor and had to fight his way up to shore, she states that maybe the drowning and the endless desert are signifying that the weight of this quest is holding him down, he agrees and takes a walk outside to contemplate on what Belit wanted him to do which is to leave her and be free of all of it. Unsure again on what to do he goes back to the pub he had fought in earlier for a drink, again he is confronted but this time its owner of the pub who says that her mother could help him on is quest to heal everyone on the ship.

Back on Tigress he is once again confronted by the Dockmaster who this time warns Conan saying the wolves are at the gate and that Belit is a devil in the eyes of the people, angered Conan places his sword to the throat of the Dockmaster and threatens to spill his blood if he interferes. As the healer begins to cure everyone Conan and N’gora notice a crowd of hostile townsmen intended on ending Belit’s life, with sword in hand Conan and N’gora quickly get rid of them in what I say is one of the most barrack and violent skirmishes that I have seen as of late, at one point he’s hold a man he just gutted and tells the others to look at the man as he dies in his arms.

The Arc ends with Conan hearing the screams of Belit but is unable to enter the room, as he sits outside the door waiting, the healer walks out saying that she is saved and that there were complications, saying Belit was 2 months pregnant and that the baby was lost. Shocked Conan tries to comfort Belit but she doesn’t want to speak to him, as he walks out of her chambers he and N’yoga glance at one other with the narrator implying that maybe the death was not towards Belit but towards her and Conan’s relationship.

Final Thoughts: Conan The Barbarian – The Death is one of the best arcs I have read, ever since the Road of Kings Arc which was a favorite of mine , I’ve been waiting for someone to deliver another great arc and up till now I haven’t been satisfied with how arcs were written, not saying that the pass ones are terrible just that something was missing form each arc such as story and character development, but The Death in my opinion seems to cover all of those issues. Writer Brian Wood does a masterful job in this arc, the way he has Conan struggle back and forth with his emotions. Each issue shows a different side of Conan such as fear, anger, joy, love all things that make us human. To be able to include all of those things in a 3 part issue is quite a feat. Artist Declan Shalvey and Colorist Dave Stewart captures and brings all of those emotions to life with his sketch heavy style that includes alot of shading and not so much detail, surprisingly this style fits particularly well for this arc.